Thermal management is of great importance to the operation of semiconductor devices. Thermal management is especially important in the operation of microprocessors as relentlessly increasing frequency targets push power output, and therefore heat generation, to the limits of the cooling capacity of passive air-cooled heatsink technology. Insufficient transfer of heat away from a semiconductor device can result in degradation of the performance and reliability of that device or circuit.
Recent focus has turned to thermal management arrangements utilizing fluid flowing through parallel channels to dissipate heat. The channels each have similar dimensions and each have an input to receive fluid from a common inlet coupled to a remote pump, and an output to transmit the fluid to a common outlet towards a heat exchanger. This prior art design may result in undesirable flow distributions among the channels due to a large portion of the fluid flowing through the channels in-line with the common inlet and outlet, while the channels at the periphery of the thermal management device may have significantly smaller flows. Additionally, across die temperature gradients may reduce the volumetric flow rates through high heat flux channels along with a corresponding increase in the flow rates through low heat flux channels.